What’s the difference between top grain leather and full grain leather?  Lots, actually!  Full grain leather is best characterized as 1.4mm leather; it is the “best” in quality and called, “Full Grain leather”. The best Full Grain leather displays the natural markings and grain characteristics from the animal of which it was taken from.  Full Grain leathers come from a better quality hide or skin and reveal all the natural markings as no sanding processes are applied to its surface.

Full Grain leathers offer a natural look and feel durable and plush at the same time.  The leather will naturally fold on itself, but no collapse.  It will feel thick without feeling bulky.  Animal care also reflects the quality; better diets and living conditions great attribute the quality of leather.  When it comes to leather, ggenerally speaking, street riders look for style, fit and cost.  We don’t want to generalize, but their options are usually limited to lower grades of leather (but this is overlooked by style vs. performance) because the corrected leather grains have been treated extensively and are usually highly cosmetic to overcome any integrity issues and are priced lower.  The majority of leather that is beneath top grain leather is known as “corrected leather”, which is usually known as the, “Top Grain”, leather category.  Let us pause here for a moment, not all top grain leathers are insufficient as there are some grades of top grain that will perform well, but the majority of the top grain leathers offered to the public are lesser grades and truly do not perform well under abrasion and heat.  These top grain leathers go through considerable processing of sanding, buffing, stamping and then dyeing.  So, the integrity of the leather is already compromised – unknown to the rider.  The purpose of this processing is to create a uniform look that removes insect bites, barbed-wire scratches and other environmental markings that might appear on the hide.  This is why most Motorcycle Leather Jackets or Motorcycle Race Suits can be so attractive is due to top grain leather, because it has been treated so extensively.